Trump Would be Pillager-in-Chief

Now that it’s pretty clear who the major party candidates will be in November let’s compare their resumes. Trump claims to be a billionaire though he hasn’t disclosed his tax returns so we can’t really know. He said he couldn’t be bought because he was self-funding his campaign but that’s not true now that he’s won the primaries he’s begging for dollars the same as every other candidate.

Trump’s experience is all in real estate and entertainment where he became a household name through is “reality” show “The Apprentice”. His experience with government has been as an applicant for licenses for casinos and permits for construction projects. He’s never held elected office or even an appointed one like Planning and Zoning Commissioner.

Last Sunday the New York Times ran a well researched and documented story on Donald Trump’s financial dealings in Atlantic City. When Trump talks about it he says he hit it big there brags about how much money he made. What he doesn’t say and the story reveals is that he ventures in Atlantic City were an unmitigated disaster for everyone but him. Whether they were an investor, supplier or construction contractor almost everyone lost money by dealing with Donald Trump.

Whether it was one of four bankruptcies or self-dealing Trump always won and everyone else took a loss. After a couple of Atlantic City bankruptcies and a downturn in New York, Trump used shareholder money to pay his personal debts while receiving $450,000 a month for personal and household expenses. He delayed paying for construction work on his hotels for 3 years or more and then only paid 30 cents on the dollar yet he walked away with millions personally. The Times quotes Sebastian Pignatello, a former Trump investor, as saying: “He drove these companies into bankruptcy by his mismanagement, the debt and his pillaging.”

Clinton has served eight years in the United States Senate where she served on the Committee on Armed Services, Committee on Environment and Public Works, Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. She then served four years as Secretary of State. As the first lady of Arkansas and then the United States, Clinton has studied and advocated for better education, the availability of health care to everyone and improving the lives of women across the world.

Clinton’s life and government service haven’t been without controversy yet even after the Benghazi Committee wasted a shade less than $7 million on hearings they have found exactly nothing. Of course if you’re a conspiracy theorist there’s always the tragic suicide of her friend Vince Foster that you can let yourself be distracted by.

In the end the choice is clear we can vote for someone prepared to be the commander-in-chief or someone prepared to be the pillager-in-chief.